No more secrets

Tuesday

Sep 25, 2007 at 2:00 AM

The teenager's testimony was compelling. She quietly and calmly, with little emotion and fewer words, told a jury in Barnstable Superior Court that she had been repeatedly molested in her East Falmouth home by her mother's boyfriend when she was just 6 years old.

The teenager's testimony was compelling. She quietly and calmly, with little emotion and fewer words, told a jury in Barnstable Superior Court that she had been repeatedly molested in her East Falmouth home by her mother's boyfriend when she was just 6 years old.

But after less than three hours of deliberation, the jury found the alleged rapist not guilty.

And therein lies a major frustration of victims, families and prosecutors when it comes to child sexual assault cases.

They are very difficult to prosecute.

Oftentimes, the only evidence against a perpetrator is the testimony of an emotionally distraught child. In some cases, as was the case in East Falmouth, years have elapsed between the offense and the arrest of the alleged perpetrator. By then, there's no DNA, no other physical evidence, no witnesses.

Despite the obstacles, the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office must make every possible effort to proceed with a case against an alleged rapist. If they don't, these perps will attack others. As we've seen in the clergy sex abuse scandal, perpetrators are likely to strike repeatedly unless someone speaks up.

It's difficult to know the full extent of child sexual abuse on the Cape and Islands, but Children's Cove, the Cape agency that serves as a clearinghouse for child sexual assault cases, has documented an average of about 100 child sexual assault cases every year since 2001.

The district attorney's office has prosecuted an average of about 20 child sexual assault cases annually since 1991. That means that as many as 80 percent of child sexual assaults reported to authorities over the past five years on the Cape and Islands were not prosecuted.

Brian Glenny, the Cape and Islands' first assistant district attorney, said some cases from Children's Cove first reported as sexual assaults are not substantiated. He also pointed out that the number of cases going to trial is several times higher than it was 15 to 20 years ago.

Nevertheless, we should never lose sight of the fact that the cases that make it to court, or get reported to police at all, represent only a fraction of all the sexual assaults that likely occur. That means hundreds of rapists are walking the streets, ready to prey on other victims. They are not hiding in bushes. They are usually known to the victims — from mere acquaintances to more trusted figures, including uncles, stepfathers, even grandfathers.

When prosecutors hold back and decline to prosecute a case, victims and their families feel betrayed by the justice system.

But as Glenny points out, "The overarching goal is what's best for the victim. If that means that we can't prosecute, the case won't get prosecuted."

Rather than engaging in an endless blame game, victims and their families should work with the district attorney's office to prevent abuse.

And the first steps to successful prosecution are alert caregivers and timely reporting.

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